Republicans Promised U.S. Government Shutdown in 2010 (Video)

The U.S. government officially shut down at midnight tonight, although vital areas of the government will continue.

While many Republicans blame President Obama for the shutdown, it's the GOP that has been promising and calling for a government shutdown for three years.

As MSNBC's Rachel Maddow recalled on her show tonight, many Republicans in 2010 actually ran on a campaign of shutting down the U.S. government (video below).

The rallying cry of "Shut It or Cut It" worked for the GOP in 2010 and enabled them to take control of the House of Representatives, which is now demanding President Obama agree to defund his own health care reform law, Obamacare.

“It demonstrates a desire to go to extremes, which is fun and ideologically desirable. And it shows a decisive lack of respect for what government is. It is a tactical insult to the whole idea of governance,” said Maddow.

Maddow then showed a video of Republicans smiling and giving the thumbs up as they came out of their closed-door meeting on Saturday after deciding to shutdown the U.S. government if Obamacare is not defunded.